The Myrtle Beach Pelicans rallied from an early four-run deficit and escaped a ninth-inning rally to scrape past the Salem Red Sox, 8-7, on Wednesday night at TicketReturn.com Field at Pelicans Ballpark.
The game was scoreless through two innings, but both teams erupted for four runs in the third inning. Salem loaded the bases with nobody out in its half of the frame, taking 1-0 lead on a Tzu-Wei Lin RBI single. After a strikeout, Yoilan Cerse walked to force in a run, setting the table for Kevin Heller, who drove in two more with a single to left-center. Myrtle Beach starter Fernando Cruz escaped further damage, though, by picking up back-to-back strikeouts.
The Pelicans went right to work in the last of the third, plating four against Ty Buttrey. With two on and none out, Jeimer Candelario reached on a run-scoring error and scored along with Chesny Young on a two-run double from Jacob Rogers. Two batters later, Cael Brockmeyer tied the game with a sacrifice fly.
The wackiness didn’t stop in the fourth with Salem jumping back out in front 5-4 on a throwing error by Kevin Brown on a double from Jose Vinicio. Salem had runners on second and third with one down, but Wendell Rijo bounced into an unorthodox 1-2-5-4 double play with Vinicio being tagged out at third before Rijo was gunned out trying to move to second during the rundown.
Myrtle Beach claimed its first lead in the last of the fourth with three more runs. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Young slashed a two-run double down the left field line to lift the Birds to a 6-5 advantage. An RBI groundout from Candelario made it 7-5 before the weirdest play of the night occurred.
On a bouncer up the middle, Salem shortstop Mauricio Dubon threw home to try and cut down Young, but Jordan Procyshen dropped the ball. However, home plate umpire Erich Bacchus called Young out at the plate for runners’ interference, leading to the ejections of the Pelicans manager, Mark Johnson, and assistant coach, Chris Gutierrez.
Order was restored until the seventh inning when Heller came through once again for the Red Sox with a two-out single, scoring Rijo, who had doubled earlier in the frame. Myrtle Beach added an important unearned insurance tally in the last of the eighth on a Mark Zagunis single to take an 8-6 lead to the ninth.
Facing Pelican closer Jasvir Rakkar, Salem quickly put runners at second and third with nobody out on a single and double. After a popout, Heller provided his fourth hit and fourth RBI of the day with a single to right field to make it 8-7. After Heller stole second, Rakkar barred down and struck out Procyshen and Dubon to leave the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position, picking up his 10th save in the process.
Buttrey (6-2) suffered just his second loss in 10 starts for Salem, allowing seven runs, five earned, on seven hits in five innings. Kyle Kraus yielded an unearned tally over three innings out of the pen.
Cruz earned a no-decision in the start for Myrtle Beach, lasting just three frames. He gave up four runs on six hits before giving way to David Garner, who earned the win. Garner (1-0) allowed an unearned run to cross on four hits in relief.
Salem will now look to snap its five-game losing streak on Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. Trey Ball (6-6, 3.70) starts for the Sox against the Pelicans’ Tyler Ihrig (0-0, 8.10). Fans can listen to the game on 1240 AM ESPN Roanoke, online at salemsox.com or via the TuneIn Radio app.
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Chris Graham
